The Missing Year
by xxNight Angelxx
Summary: Focussing on the 3rd year of GUIHTD, this sees Lily in a new place with an old enemy while the Marauders stay at Hogwarts, how much mischief can they really cause in a year? We meet a new character too...Should be an interesting year for everyone...
1. A New Year

**The Missing Year**

**Disclaimer:** I'm too lazy to paste this on each individual chapter so it applies for the whole story: I do not own anything to do with Harry Potter except some posters, a couple of mugs, a rug, some pens and a booklight, a Quidditch game, silver coins, trading cards out of chocolate frogs and a make-your-own chess set and, come Christmas, a snow globe thing my mum found in some random shop. So, let me rephrase that: I do not own anything to do with therights of Harry Potter and if I did what are the chances I'd be wasting my time writing fan fiction? Multi-million, probably billion, pound franchise like that...Yeah, writing fan fiction is really what I'd be spending my time doing(!)

**Authors Note:** Just a quick thing: this is the third year from _Growing up Is Hard To Do _(I will finish it soon!). If you want to, I advise you read chapters 1 - 38 of that if you don't know what's going on. This should work well as a stand-alone chapter though, I'm just using it incase anyone gets confused...mainly me. More chapters to come as they're written...

* * *

As the September of 1975 started and 11.15 rolled around, excitement filled the pupils of Hogwarts as they left Kings Cross Station. Some were filled with nervous anticipation as they awaited the first glimpse of what was to become their new home. For others there was an almost sadness as they realised that this was the last time they would journey to the place that had brought them so many memories, both good and bad. Then there was another group, the ones who were neither starting Hogwarts nor preparing to leave it. These were the ones who were excited to catch-up, explore new areas and learn new things, but mostly, they were the ones who wanted that feeling of belonging that you get when you are finally accepted. The same feeling that most muggles spend their whole lives trying to find but never quite manage.

The students headed to Hogwarts were not the only ones hoping to remember that feeling of belonging that had been lost to them over the past 6 weeks. A small selection of Hogwarts students were headed to Beauxbatons, France and every fibre of their being was praying that they would be accepted there as easily as they had been at Hogwarts. None of the delegation wanted this more that Lily, who felt like she hadn't belonged anywhere in a long while.

What all of these students didn't realise, what they didn't know, was that this was the year that would test everything they knew. Those who felt their school was the place they belonged would soon find themselves feeling it was a living hell as waves of terror and suspicion spread throughout the students. Personal terrors would haunt some while others would find their loyalties tested. But for some, those lucky few, the trials they were about to face would merely serve to strengthen the bonds between them and make them realise that the thing they needed all along was the thing they'd always had. That school year, 1975 – 1976, our groups third year, would be such a challenge that it would mould and affect everyone and help in shaping them to be who they were born to be.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A group of terrified first years stood shaking outside the large wooden doors of the Great Hall. Their nervous but excited chatter filled the area in which they stood, a great comparison to the almost silence coming from a group of new students thirteen to sixteen year olds. These were the French exchange pupils and they were too busy staring in awe at the school and it's comparison to their normal one to concern themselves with trivial things like nonsensical chatter. A tall, young woman appeared before them.

"Welcome to Hogwarts; I am Professor McGonagall, transfiguration teacher, head of Gryffindor and the new Deputy Head teacher. If you would all like to follow me we shall begin the sorting."

She led them through the doors and into an extremely large room with four tables, each one decorated with a banner above it, a different animal in each. Students sat at each of these tables, watching the newcomers expectantly. The Professors were sat at a smaller table running parallel to the others, they too were waiting eagerly.

"First, we will here from the Sorting Hat." Professor McGonagall placed a tattered hat on top of a stool, a tear appeared at the brim and the hat began to sing.

"Every year the people come,  
Every year I give them homes.  
Everyone of different blood,  
From Muggle-born to Gnome.

Now it's time to start again,  
To sort you for all time.  
Isn't that a pain for you?  
Your life changing on a dime.

Gryffindor, Ravenclaw,  
Slytherin and Hufflepuff.  
We'll see where you belong,  
It's really not so tough.

Just put me on, I'll do the rest.  
Look inside your mind.  
Works best that way,  
Puts you with your kind."

The students at tables began cheering wildly; the staff clapped appreciatively until McGonagall called for silence and began calling names out. When all the first years were sorted she addressed the room once more.

"This year we play host to students from Beauxbatons; we trust you will make them feel welcome in all aspects of Hogwarts life. As new students they will, of course, be treated to the same sorting routine as everyone else, so, Dubois, Annalise."

The brunette walked to the stool and waited to be sorted into Slytherin. Ten more students were sorted and then, finally, the last person was called, "Ruris, Tegwen."

A small blonde girl shuffled her way over to the stool, scowling and muttering under her breathe. "Tae, its Tae. Why do they always have to call me Tegwen?"

_That is your name_, a voice pointed out in her ear making her half-jump and half scowl even more.

"Doesn't mean they have to call me it."

She could swear she heard the voice smile. _Easy this one…Gryffindor!_

Cheers erupted from said table and Tae made her way over, sitting beside the other two students to be sorted there from her school. For the entire duration of the feast she didn't talk to anyone except those she knew, not because she was shy but because she preferred to sit and watch her new school companions to get a feel for the kinds of people they were.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The Hogwarts students were watching their new French comrades closely but cautiously. So far they had yet to attempt to start a conversation with them; they seemed much too involved in their own conversations to be interested in anything they had to say. They weren't really giving off a good first impression to their hosts.

"How rude of them," Sirius commented to Remus as they dived into the feast before them.

"Who?" Remus asked, an eyebrow raised at the amount of food Sirius was piling onto his plate. They had eaten practically the entire contents of the snack cart and yet here he was still getting more.

"The Frenchies," Sirius said with a jerk of his head in their direction.

"Sirius, you can't call them that!"

"Why not?"

"Because…it's like calling a Muggle-born a 'mudblood'."

"But they're French." This was Peter butting in.

Remus turned to him. "That doesn't mean you can call them Frenchies."

"Actually, I think you can," Sirius said smugly. "They call themselves it."

"No they don't."

"Yes, they do."

"No, they don't."

"Yeah, they do."

"Sirius, they don't," James said, a little tired of the argument.

"Yeah, they do. On the train before one of them said 'nous sommes Frenchies.'"

James snorted into his pumpkin juice, Remus rolled his eyes, Peter looked thoroughly confused.

"Sirius you idiot, they said 'nous sommes _Français_.'"

Sirius frowned. "What's the difference?"

"Français means French, Frenchies is a completely derogatory term."

"But they're French…"

Remus looked at him in despair. "Never mind, why are they rude?"

"Well, look at them, they're all talking to each other in foreign and not even attempting to get to know any of us. And that hot blonde…I've been trying to catch her eye and she just ignores me."

Remus smirked. "There, there, Sirius. You knew it had to happen eventually."

"What?"

"A girl who refused to fall for your charms."

"Please, we haven't even spoken yet. Give it a week and she'll be eating out of the palm of my hand."

"You're on," Remus said in amusement.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

As Tae and the other French students settled into life in England, the Hogwarts delegation were becoming accustomed with their French counterparts' ways. Unlike Hogwarts there was no extravagant welcoming to the school. Students were told which houses to go to and where to sit for their welcoming meal, which consisted of croissants, baguettes, frogs legs, snails and other typical French foods. It wasn't an unpleasant meal but it was certainly different to what the Hogwarts students were used to. This culture shock wasn't the biggest surprise for Lily, which came in the form of a fellow student taking part in the exchange. Alexandra Fentworth was also in Beauxbatons and suddenly Lily's hope of a new start vanished entirely. For this reason what happened at the welcoming meal that first evening was a complete shock.

"Lily, hey, Lily." Alex called to her across the table.

"What?" Lily responded shortly, true she didn't dislike Alex half as much as Alex disliked her but that didn't mean she was going to be the friendliest of people.

"Well, I was just thinking, we're the only ones here that know what's gone on before so how about we start afresh this year. Let bygones be bygones, that sort of thing."

Lily thought about Alex's words for a few minutes, considered their sincerity, weighing up the possibility of hidden meanings before she smiled brightly. "Sounds good to me."

"Good," Alex smiled back.


	2. First Day

Lily wriggled under her covers trying to get warm, wondering why it was so cold. As she opened her eyes she saw thin rays of sunlight dancing across her bed and a room so different from what she was used to. Instead of her own pale pink and yellow walls or Hogwarts' vivid reds and gold, Beauxbatons was a cool blue and its chill seemed to radiate in every room Lily went. Realising that it was, as much as she disliked the fact, morning Lily tentatively got out of bed, jumping a little at the cold floor.

"Hogwarts mornings are so much warmer," she muttered as she quickly dressed and left her dormitory.

Each student here had individual dorms, this was a plus for Lily as she didn't have to worry about others messing her room up but it almost felt a little secluded having no one to talk to. She had arranged to meet Alex outside the dorms so she hung around waiting for her friend.

After ten minutes Lily was getting a little bored of staring at the same point on a wall and a little worried by the number of students who were hastily running past as though they were late.

"You should 'urry up, lessons start in a minute," a small girl told Lily as she ran past.

Lily watched her scuttle off and frowned, where was Alex? "Which number's hers again?" she asked herself as she tried to remember what she'd been told the night before. _Twenty three….Thirty four….Ninety two…Eleven!_ Just down the hall, Lily headed for it and knocked loudly, thinking perhaps Alex had overslept. Not a good start for her first day. The bell rang loudly down the hall and the last few people came running out of their dorms still only half-dressed but no response came from inside the room. Lily knocked again, and again, five minutes she waited but Alex never appeared. Lily tried opening the door but it was locked. "She's gone!" She mumbled turning to face the empty corridor.

_Fantastic,_ she though sarcastically. _She's gone, I'm late, there's no one around and I have no clue where I'm going…_

Lily consulted the map she'd been given. It seemed more confusing than one of Hogwarts would be but Lily could just make out where she was meant to go right at the other side of the school. Grabbing her bag she set off. Ten minutes later she arrived and everyone watched as, face as red as her hair, she carefully entered the room twenty minutes late.

"I don't know how things work at 'Ogwarts," a thin-lipped Professor glared at her interruption. "But 'ere we expect punctuality from our students."

"Sorry," Lily muttered, her face reddening. "I got lost and…"

"You have a map?"

"Yes, but –"

"That ees all you need now take a seat."

Lily nodded dumbly and sat in the only spare seat right at the front of the classroom. She tried turning around a few times, trying to catch Alex's eye, but she would either get caught or Alex would be focussed on the work before her. Slumping in her seat, Lily grudgingly did her own work but only half-heartedly. The lesson was Charms, her favourite at Hogwarts. Something told her she wasn't going to like it here.

The rest of the day wasn't much better. She had double Transfiguration, which, though she could do it, she wasn't as good as the rest of the class and by the end of the two hours she felt like crying, and Potions, which was the worst, in Lily's opinion. Beauxbatons were further than ahead Hogwarts had been and Lily found that most of the lesson was spent trying to catch up, she made a mental note to do extra reading that night.

I wasn't until after lessons that day that Lily got to talk to Alex.

"Where were you?" She asked loudly.

Alex looked up and saw Lily looming over her, hands on her hips and face screwed up in annoyance.

"When?"

"This morning!" Lily cried, ignoring looks from others around.

"What are you…Oh! Lily, I'm so sorry, I forgot, is that why you were late."

Lily nodded, eyes still blazing.

"Lily, stop looking at me like that! It was an accident. I was excited and I forgot, I promise I'll be there tomorrow."

"Well…" Lily said slowly and thoughtfully.

Alex shifted up on the couch she was sat in and motioned for Lily to sit next to her.

"I suppose if you're there tomorrow…" Lily said, taking the seat.

The two old, or rather reacquainted friends, stayed up chatting that night, going to their dorms in the early hours of the next morning. When Lily awoke the next day she found Alex was there waiting and smiled. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Tae sat in the Great Hall eating her breakfast. She was alone at the table but surrounded by lots of other Gryffindor students, the two seats either side of her were empty but not for long.

"It's Tegwen, right?" Remus asked her as he sat at her left side.

"Tae," she answered not realising that Sirius had sat at her right side. "Who are you?"

"Remus, I'm in third year too so we'll be having some lessons together. If you need help in any of them I don't mind," he offered pleasantly. "I assume the lessons are different at Beauxbatons?"

Tae shook her head. "Not really, in fact, from what I've read in the textbooks, we're ahead of you. We were due to start protective potions this year; you're still doing sleeping draughts."

"Really?" Remus asked his interest increasing as he heard this.

As he engaged the girl in talk of subject matter, Sirius was pouring a clear liquid into her drink of orange. Undetected he crept off the seat and began to make his way past them, Remus stopped him.

"Have you met Sirius?" He asked making Sirius stop to turn and smile at the girl.

"No but the name sounds familiar." Tae frowned and then realised. "Sirius Black?"

At hearing his name Sirius' smile turned to a charming grin. "You've heard of me?"

Tae nodded. "Mm-hmm," she sounded as she took a sip of her orange. "Apparently you're a 'bigheaded, prank-pulling, over-the-top little toad'." She looked him up and down noting in particular that he didn't seem at all bothered to be called such. "You don't look like a toad but I can see the rest was right."

Sirius' smile faltered. "Well you don't sound very French considering you're from a French school."

"A French school, yes," she answered, taking a pause to finish her drink. "But not France, I lived in England until about five years ago. I'd love to stay chat but I have to try and find my way around for lessons. I'm sure I'll see you later."

"Can't wait," Sirius muttered darkly waiting until she was out of sight before he grinned. "How long does that potion take to start working?"

Remus stared at him. "You spiked her drink?"

"Obviously and I'm glad I did the stuck up little…."

Tae left them with twenty minutes until her lesson was due to start. She didn't know how long she'd take to get there and she'd rather be early than late, as it was she still managed to get there 10 minutes after everyone else. She'd walked through corridor after corridor and not once had she seen another person and yet, when she arrived at her classroom, she could see the lesson had started. She entered the Muggle Studies classroom trying to be quiet but the door squeaked and everyone turned to stare at her, only for them to erupt into laughter a second later.

"You think that's funny?" The Professor demanded. "You turn up late and looking like…like…that!"

Tae was confused to say the least, as far as she knew she looked the same as always.

"Do you have a tongue girl? Use it!"

Tae tried to speak but no words would come out.

"Professor," she heard a girl say. "I don't think she did it deliberately, please, can I show her to the hospital wing?"

"Very well, but back here in five minutes."

The girl nodded and Tae found herself being steered away by her. Outside the classroom Tae was handed a mirror, her skin colour had been changed to green and blue stripes and her face was swollen greatly. Tears formed but the girl soothed her and introduced herself as Alice. As they walked to the hospital wing Tae found out a number of things; Alice was in Tae's dormitory, this wasn't the first time someone had been pranked in Hogwarts and it probably wasn't the last time Tae would be and it was more than likely that, since she had been in contact with them earlier, Sirius and Remus had done this to her. That was the moment Tae decided to get her revenge, and so she did, the very next night in fact.

"Remus, is that offer for help still available?" She asked him.

"Yeah, what do you need it with?"

"Potions," she admitted. "I know I said we were ahead of you but I could never work out how to do this one potion and…"

Remus helped her; he wasn't much good at potions though, as Alice had already informed Tae, and so he enlisted the other Marauders' help too. Together they sorted through the necessary details and Tae rewarded them with a bottle of butterbeer each.

"Where'd you get these?" Peter asked her.

"I brought them with me, I love the stuff, got a whole collection upstairs but I won't be able to enjoy it much longer."

"Why not?" James asked her.

"Because I'm not going to be around. I got pranked yesterday and, well, there were complications with removing it, apparently there isn't a safe way to do it and so the counter potion eats away at you from the insides. The doctor reckons I don't have more than a week."

"What?" Sirius asked, scared.

"I'm dying," Tae clarified.

There was an unnatural silence and they all drank there butterbeer. Fifteen minutes later the Marauders were sat in their dormitory when Sirius and Remus began to change colour. Their pale skin changed to blue and green stripes and their faces swelled up. The horror that came over their faces was unmistakable.

"Oh no," Remus said, fear lacing his voice.

"Are we…? Are we going to die too?" Sirius asked.

"No, you can't," James said. "There has to be a counter spell or something.

"You heard Tae, there isn't one, she's being killed inside out and now we will too."

"That can't be right." James said, looking around the room trying to find the book from which the potion had come. Peter had already found it and was scanning the page.

"There's no mention of it," he said panicked.

"There never is!" Sirius was frantic now. "We have to go to the hospital wing; there must be something they can do!"

"Only remove the colour and puffiness," Remus said sombrely.

They went to the hospital wing anyway. Doctor Nedalski tutted when he saw them but returned their colour and decreased their puffiness instantly, allowing them to leave.

"Are we going to die?" Sirius asked him terrified just before they left.

Doctor Nedalski began laughing. "Why would you die? It's a simple little potion but I think I'll have to be having words with Professor Dumbledore, this isn't the first case this week."

The boys looked confused. "But we were told…She said…I'll kill her!" Sirius declared loudly.

"Who?" Remus frowned.

"That annoying little thing that's taken over Evans' place. Who do you think?"

"Tae? Why would you…" Remus' face changed from one of confusion to comprehension to a smirk in less than a second. "What a clever girl," he laughed.

"It's not funny," Sirius announced as they wandered through the corridors. "She really got me worried."

"Good," a female voice spoke, Tae's voice. "And next time you try to pull a prank on me I'll give you a real reason to."


	3. Making Plans

Life passed by quickly at times, slowly at others. Lily found life in Beauxbatons wasn't all that different to life Hogwarts. It was easier to get around, true, and the food took some getting used too and she had to try and decipher what her teachers were telling her before she could write anything down but aside from that it was pretty much the same. She spent a lot of time in the library or lessons and when she wasn't there she was with Alex and the new friends Alex had made. It was like being back at Hogwarts for Lily only with new faces, and there was the bonus of not having to put up with the Marauders or Narcissa that made this school slightly better. Still, she couldn't help but feel something was wrong with this school, as though something were missing. In the end she put it down to a mix of nerves and homesickness.

Before she knew it the middle of October was upon them and news of a dance was spreading fast throughout the building.

"It's not fair," Alex pouted as she sat opposite Lily at the small table in the library where she was sat.

"What's not?" Lily asked, not taking her eyes off the page she was scribbling on furiously.

"The dance."

"What dance?" Lily asked, raising her head in interest.

"Hello, the Halloween dance. Where have you been?"

"In here," Lily answered in a tone that suggested she didn't understand Alex's mocking. "So, why is a dance a bad thing?"

"Well, it's not," Alex said, playing with a scrap of parchment. "But we're not invited."

"What do you mean?"

"It's for fifth year up, we're only third so we're not allowed to go."

"Oh," Lily said, losing interest. "Well, never mind."

"Never mind?" Alex asked loudly, earning a _shh_ from Lily and glares from others in the library. Ignoring the, she continued. "This could be the only chance of a dance we get to go to and we can't go because we're too young!"

"There'll be plenty at Hogwarts."

"But Hogwarts is different to Beauxbatons, we'll never experience a Beauxbatons dance!"

Lily looked up from her work again and, giving Alex an odd look, said, "Well, they're not that different. There's music, dancing, refreshments, same as any other. It's not like you'll be missing much. It's not like you can just show up and hope no one notices."

Alex's frown changed to a grin. "That is a brilliant idea!"

"What is…Oh, no, Alex, don't."

But Alex was already up and on her way out of the library, a contemplative look on her face as she considered the different ways to plan for attending the dance.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"So now that you've settled in, how are you enjoying the place?" Alice asked Tae that same night.

"Good," Tae smiled at the person she had barely spoken to in the past few weeks. It had been a hectic six weeks, Tae had had to get used to not only the great workload that was piled on her as she had to catch up with certain things but also get accustomed to the ways of this new school. As much as she loved the moving stairs and endless secret passages, Tae couldn't help but think that it was a bit cruel putting someone in there to find their own way around **and** deal with the workload. It was only in the past couple of days that she had finally got everything sorted. "It's so much better than Beauxbatons, not as cold."

"No," Alice agreed. "Especially this time of year," she looked out of the window at the seemingly endless rain and sighed.

Tae giggled. "Not that kind of cold, I mean the people are cold, the place itself. Like I'm different to them so they don't want me around. Here you just seem to accept and welcome."

"Oh," Alice said nodding. "Well, you're right. Hogwarts prides itself on being a very welcoming place, open to all kinds of people."

"Yeah," Tae agreed. "So what are you up to?"

"Oh, nothing much," Alice said, sitting at the table with Tae. "I've got nothing to do and Marie's on a stalking mission and I've got no one to talk to so I thought I'd come and see what you're up to."

"Fair enough," Tae said, doodling on some parchment. "Who's she stalking?"

"Remus," Alice rolled her eyes. "She's getting a little obsessive lately, I wish she'd just ask him out and get it over with."

"But where would the fun in that?" Tae pointed out with a smile.

"I'd be able to talk to my best friend for a change!"

"She's going to Hogsmeade with you tomorrow, isn't she?"

"Yeah but so is Remus, I'm going to be on my own…unless you come too?" She flashed Tae an award winning smile, not that it had much effect.

"I don't think so, maybe next time but I'm still a little behind."

"I'll help you catch up. Come on Tae, you've been working solid for six weeks, you need a break!"

Tae bit her lip in thought. "I don't know…"

"Please?" She batted her eyelashes in an obvious pleading way.

Tae laughed at her. "Oh, alright but you better help me."

"Of course," Alice asserted, a bright grin coming over her features as she grabbed one of Tae's books and began helping her.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

_Hey, 'Cissa, how's it going? Things are good here. She trusts me again and seems to think we're best friends, all's going to plan. Halloween we're both crashing a dance, I think I'll do it then. A x_

Narcissa looked at the note again and smiled coldly before setting her wand on it and setting it alight. She took out her own parchment and scribbled down a response before tying it to Alex's owl to return. She checked her appearance in the mirror quickly before leaving the dormitory to meet Lucius Malfoy.

"It's set for Halloween," she told him when she found him.

"That long?" He drawled back, a flash of annoyance on his face.

"Well, there's a dance…" Narcissa began but was cut off.

"Very well," was all he said before turning away from her, his cloak swishing behind him.

She watched him leave; shivering at the cold air that now surrounded her. She really did hate that boy. Once he was out of sight, Narcissa too turned away and walked back to Gryffindor common room to meet her traitor cousin and his just-as-bad friends.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

_Very well, I shall tell him. Things will be set this end, too. N x_

Alex read the reply to her note before she too set it alight.

"What was that?" Lily asked behind her, making her jump.

"Oh, just some old rubbish. Don't need it anymore," Alex lied smoothly though she could sense rather than see doubt coming from Lily.

"Oh, okay. I was going for a walk outside, do you want to come with me?"

"Sure," Alex answered, giving her a pleasant smile. "Wait outside, I just need to get changed."

Lily looked her over curiously; Alex's robes were already clean and looked good one her. She went outside anyway, closing the door behind her.

The minute the door clicked shut Alex's smile turned to a snarl. "I hope I don't have to keep this up much longer," she muttered as she grabbed her wand off her desk. "I can't stand being nice to the little mudblood anymore."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

James pulled the wand from his pocket and pointed it at the lock. "Alohomora," he whispered, waiting for the click as the door unlocked. It didn't come. "Alohomora," he tried again, a little louder this time, still no click came. "Alohomora," he said even louder."

After five more failed attempts, he heard a huffy, bored sigh. "Move over, I'll do it," Sirius' voice spoke quietly behind him.

James stood up and stumbled slightly. He hadn't realised until then how tired his legs were from crouching for so long.

"Alohomora!" Sirius pointed his wand at the lock and all-but shouted the word. There was no click once more but Sirius earned himself a slap across the back of the head.

"Good one! We're trying to be quiet so no one hears us and you go and shout!"

"James," Sirius said in a bored wise old man's voice. "We're in the middle of a field, the school is ages away. No one's going to hear us."

"Who's there?" A familiar voice shouted behind them; Hagrid.

"You were saying?" James asked sarcastically, covering Sirius' mouth with his hand (not an easy feat when Sirius was several inches taller) as he pulled them against the wall of the shed.

James, still with one hand over Sirius' mouth, put his hand against the side of the shed, only to feel the bit he was pushing on sink into the wooden building. He turned his head slightly and saw much of the wall was moving backwards. Shaking off the surprise James pulled Sirius backwards and they both entered, the wood moving back into place just as Hagrid turned the corner. They could hear his voice outside, "I coulda sworn I heard somethin'."

James and Sirius stood frozen in place until they heard Hagrid's crunchy footsteps on the near-frozen grass die away. The two boys began laughing. "Sirius, you're a genius!" James announced cheerfully as he looked around the room happily.

"I know," Sirius replied self-assuredly.

James didn't bat an eyelid at Sirius' ego-filled comment as he headed for the box he'd come for. It was a medium-sized wooden, ornately carved box that, to James at least, seemed to glow. He lifted the lid tentatively and immediately frowned.

"It's not here," he told Sirius, an edge of annoyance in his voice.

"Of course it is, it's just so small that you can't see it under the others."

"No, look, there's the quaffle and there's the bludgers," he pointed out the balls as he said them. "But the space for the snitch is empty."

Sirius appeared beside him and peered into the box. "Oh, yeah," he muttered quietly. "Maybe they beat you to it?"

"No, they can't have. We're the master pranksters, not them."

"Well, stealing isn't really pranking, is it? I think we can let them be better at stealing."

"It's the principle, Sir, stealing requires stealth and sneakiness, pranking requires stealth and sneakiness. They're the same things and I can't let them win."

"James, you're taking this dare thing a little too seriously, I mean, it's Remus and Peter, we **know** we're better at this than them."

"Yes, but if we can't prove it then it's not worth anything, is it?"

Sirius snapped the box lid shut and threw is arm over his friend's shoulder, leading him out of the shed. "Well, we can always steal it off **them**." Sirius suggested.

James stopped walking. "You're right. Okay, here's what we do…"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Why should I help you?" Frank Longbottom asked James and Sirius. His arms were folded and an eyebrow raised, his face a picture of curiosity.

"Because…. because…." James thought furiously.

"Because James will personally do your homework for a week."

"Yeah," James agreed, nodding. "Wait, what?"

"A month," Frank countered back in a resolved sort of way.

"Deal!" Sirius announced, holding his hand out to shake on it.

"What? No!" James cried but it was too late, the deal was made.

"So what do you want me to do?" Frank asked, casting a smirk in James' direction.

Sirius relayed the plan to Frank, James stayed silent, sulking and glaring at the two boys before him.

"Yeah, I can do that," Frank informed them when Sirius was done.

"Good, I'll tell you when," Sirius said as he stood, nudging James to do the same. Sirius led the way to their dormitory, turning around halfway there to grin at James.

"Cheer up mate," he said cheerfully. "The plans coming together."

James glowered up at him then closed the distance between them. He hit Sirius round the back of the head. "Git, you're not the one who has to do Longbottom's homework. I barely have my own done on time, what makes you think I'll be able to do his, too? And for a month!"

Sirius shrugged, "You should have thought of something better than 'because…because", then, shouldn't you? Cheer up Jay, this is going to be good."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I know those boys are weird but they just got worse," Marie announced as she sat at the table with Tae and Alice.

"Who?"

"What?" Both girls spoke at the same time, jumping slightly at the unexpected interruption.

"The bloody Marauders, or two of them at least. Remus and Peter just broke into the Quidditch shed and took something before making sure they fixed everything to make it look like they hadn't been there in the first place."

Alice shook her head in amusement, "They are really, really weird," she pointed out unnecessarily.

Tae looked between the two. "Neither of you seem at all surprised."

"We're not, this is the kind of thing they do. Just watch your back, they'll probably use whatever they stole for some kind of prank."

Tae sighed, " Aberrations," she muttered in a strong French accent before concentrating, once more, on her work.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Hiya Lily, how are you finding Beauxbatons? Hogwarts is great, even the Marauders haven't been that bad, they're actually quite funny…so long as they're not trying anything on you. I don't understand why you dislike them so much. Marie told me that she saw Lupin and Pettigrew breaking into the Quidditch shed, Merlin only knows what they were up to but it seems Potter and Black are involved, too. Frank told me that they've been enlisting his help in keeping the other two occupied while they reclaim something stolen from them. I can't help but think something else is going on here… 

_Tae's settling in well, too. She's already got her own back on the Marauders twice and she's keeping me company in Hogsmeade tomorrow because Marie's become more than a little obsessed with Remus. Hey, do you want anything from Hogsmeade? I'll buy you some sugar stuff.  
__Alice x_

Lily read the letter and felt a mixture of emotions; annoyance, anger and amusement being the main of these. Annoyance at the Marauders' behaviour. It was funny really, how they could still have such an affect on her even when she was hundreds of miles away. Anger directed towards Marie. If Remus found out she liked him then what would happen to her? At least when neither knew the other liked them there was still a chance for her but if they found out… She shook her head, trying to push the thought away, refusing to finish it. And finally the amusement at Alice's typical jovial attitude showing through in her writing. Lily grabbed some parchment and a quill and began writing her reply, stopping at on point to consider whether or not to tell Alice about Remus. Finally she was finished and sent it off, a heavy feeling of guilt forming in her stomach.

_Alice, Beauxbatons is alright, bit cold though. I miss you guys! You sound like Tae is fitting in well, I hope you don't go replacing me for her…not that you could, no one compares to me, right:D  
__Anyway, about the Marauders, you haven't seen them at their worst; if you had you'd understand. Um…Keep an eye on them, they're up to something and whatever it is can't be good for the whole school, never mind you.  
__And as for Marie. Try not to get her hopes up, alright? Remus isn't looking for a girlfriend right now and it's only going to disappoint her. Owl me soon!  
__Lily x_


	4. Plans Disrupted

**A/N: I really don't like this chapter. It has got to be the worst written, worst plotted, worst everything ever written. Sorry!**

**

* * *

**

Halloween had arrived. The time was right. Everything was going to plan. Hopefully. So much hung on the evening going to plan that none of them stopped to think what would happen if it all went wrong, which, obviously, it was about to…

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

With her head stuck down a toilet, Lily could neither see who entered the bathroom nor care. She was too busy to care who heard her sharing herself with the porcelain god and, truth be told, even if she wasn't in the middle of throwing up, she wouldn't much have cared anyway. It was none of her business who was in the bathroom and for what purposes, just as it was none of theirs as to why she was in there. That didn't stop them asking though.

"Are you alright in there?" It was Alex's voice, this at least comforted Lily. It wasn't a nosey stranger butting into her business.

"Als," she whined, her voice muffled slightly.

"Lily, is that you?"

She let out a little whimper as Alex opened the stall door. She didn't look up to see her; she didn't need to as Alex placed a soothing hand on her back. "You not well?" She asked stupidly.

Lily shook her head as another feeling of sick rushed through her. She retched a couple of times before answering. "I don't know what's wrong with me, I just woke up and came in here to wash up but the minute I got out of bed I felt sick. I had to run to get here in time."

"You poor thing," Alex consoled, rubbing her back. "Just stay here until you think you can walk and I'll take you to the _infirmière_."

"No," Lily whimpered as another wave of vomit left her mouth.

Alex chose to ignore it and, fifteen minutes later, was guiding Lily to the infirmary. When she opened the door the school nurse was immediately upon them.

"Oui?"

"My friend here, she's not well, can't stop throwing up."

"Oh," the nurse wrinkled her nose slightly and motioned for Alex to take Lily to a bed and handed her a basin before disappearing into a cupboard.

Alex watched Lily, whose was sat crossed legged on a bed, her head bent down, hair falling in front of her face as she emptied the contents of her stomach. Alex couldn't help the smirk that crossed her face at the sight. She dropped it back to a concerned look the minute she heard the nurse coming book with a cup of something steaming.

Moving the hair from in front of Lily's face, the nurse held the cup in front of her. "Drink this," the nurse instructed.

Lily shook her head. "Can't." But the nurse ignored her, telling Alex to tip Lily's head back.

Alex did as was instructed and watched as the nurse forced lily's mouth open and poured the steaming liquid down her throat. Lily choked a little and made small gagging noises before she turned oddly quiet.

"There," the nurse smiled happily at Alex. "All better."

Alex looked from the nurse to Lily and frowned. "Is she supposed to do that?"

The nurse looked at Lily in horror. Her face was turning a blue-purple colour that was rapidly spreading through her brother. Her eyes became bloodshot and seemed to be bulging out of her skull and her teeth were chattering together furiously.

"You didn't tell me she was allergic!" the nurse wailed, horrified at such a stupid mistake.

"I didn't know," Alex spat back at her.

"You must leave, I must sort her out. She won't be ready to be released for a week now."

"But we had plans!"

"Cancel them," the nurse said coldly, pushing Alex out of the room and locking the door behind her.

Alex glared at the door for a few minutes before the realisation of what had happened hit her. If Lily wouldn't be released for a week then she wouldn't be attending the dance with Alex tonight, the plan was ruined. " Narcissa's going to kill me."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

James leant against the wall, his leg jiggling up and down nervously, every-so-often his hand would run through his hair. "Come on," he muttered to himself. "It doesn't take that long. I knew I should have gone instead of that mad idiot."

Just as he said this the portrait swung open and the 'mad idiot' himself entered with Remus and peter.

"About bloody time, Sir," James muttered before giving the signal to Frank and heading up to the dormitories.

"Be back in a minute guys, I just got to run upstairs for a quill," Sirius told Remus and Peter before turning away.

"You can use mine if you want?" Remus suggested.

"Actually," Sirius turned back to face them. "It was yours I was using anyway, I borrowed it before but left it upstairs."

"Oh," Remus frowned, he could have sworn he'd been using it a couple of hours ago. "Alright, well, we'll come with you."

"No!" Sirius cried quickly, making Remus' frown deepen. "What I mean is, Longbottom wants you."

"What?" Remus asked, confused.

"Yeah, I do," Frank spoke up suddenly, startling them, they hadn't realised he was right in front of them. "I needed to ask you something…"

While Remus and Peter were occupied with Frank, Sirius made his getaway upstairs. He entered his dorm to find it in a greater state of chaos than usual, with James at the centre of it all, looking for something.

"I can't find it," James said with a quick glance at Sirius.

"Well, no, not if you're doing it the muggle way," Sirius rolled his eyes and took out his wand. "Accio snitch," he said but nothing happened. He tried again but there was still no response. "Remus must be keeping it on him."

"Well, how are we going to get it now?"

"Easy," Sirius answered leaving the room.

Halfway down the stairs he stopped. He was out of sight but could see Peter and Remus still talking to Frank. "Accio snitch," Sirius tried for a final time. He could feel the pull as the object began to fly out of Peter's robe pocket. It was nearly out when Peter let out a startled cry and slapped his hand around the snitch.

Remus turned to look at his friend and smiled. "Nice try boys," he said loudly. "You almost managed it then but looks like we're better than you after all."

"No way," James cried, stepping out from their hiding place. "Just because you got there first doesn't mean you're better. I bet you used the front door to get it."

"Well, yeah, what else was I going to do?" Remus asked in an obvious way. "Climb through the window."

James just smiled, though it faded when he saw the snitch glistening in Peter's hand. Its wings were flapping wildly and it was making a real effort to fly away. "Look," James pointed to snitch. "It doesn't even want to be with you two. Let it go, see who it goes to."

"It's a snitch, James, not a pet. It's not going to go to anyone, it's going to fly around until someone catches it."

"I have an idea," Frank interrupted what was showing signs of the beginning of an argument. Why don't the four of you go to the Quidditch pitch and let it loose? The first one to catch it is…whatever you lot are arguing about."

They stared at Frank for a moment, look of contemplation on their faces then, as one, their thoughts turned to anticipation. "Frank, that is a brilliant idea!" Sirius announced. "Peter, give the snitch to Longbottom. He can release it, make it fair."

And so the five boys, and everyone who'd been in the common room to hear the conversation, made their way out to the Quidditch pitch for the race.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Narcissa winced as Lucius released her after dragging her into the alcove in which he stood. The force with which he had grabbed her was sure to bruise.

"What?" She snapped at him, eyes blazing.

Lucius' lips twisted into a smirk. "Now, now 'Cissie, don't get your knickers in a twist. I just thought I'd check up on your end of the plans for tonight. Is everything still alright?"

"Yes," she nodded, ignoring his superior sneer. "Alex has made sure that the mudblood will be there, the school is having a dance there tonight so they'll all be got at once."

"Good," Lucius smiled a cold smile, his lips twisting oddly as he did. "Everything's set for here, too. I suggest you stay away from the Great Hall at dinnertime tonight."

"Tonight? Why?"

Lucius just gave her a condescending glance before stepping out of the alcove and sweeping away down the corridor. Narcissa watched him go before stepping out herself, walking the same way he had gone, turning right instead of left and going to Gryffindor common room.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Four boys zoomed through the sky searching for that small glimmer of gold that would put them on their way to earning them the title they were all looking to claim; Sneakiest Pranker Ever.

James concentrated on the upper left portion of the field. He had, in all the games he'd played, found that the snitch enjoyed frequenting this side of the pitch. Of course, he still had yet to see it. Sirius was opposite James diagonally, mirroring all his moves. He had no skill as a seeker and no idea patience to look around for it. He found that by mirroring James' moves he would , eventually, get close to the snitch, too. Remus was circling above them, never stopping moving. He figured he would see more of the pitch this way and so would have better chance of seeing and getting to the snitch. From his point high in the sky he could see Peter far below him, just feet from the ground, doing some sort of zigzag pattern across the field. Remus shrugged, to each his own he supposed. In actual fact, Peter was doing this pattern simply because he couldn't seem to control his broom

The crowd around them were cheering excitedly, more and more students had become a part of the screaming horde, interested in seeing the outcome of this rather odd competition. An hour later the snitch still hadn't been spotted and the crowd just seemed to be growing. Cheers of "Go James" and "Come on Sirius" came loudly through the screaming. Slightly quieter were chants of "Remus Remus" and quietest, but still distinguishable, were the "You can do it Peter"s that helped make the atmosphere all the more tense.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"So everyone knows the plan, right?" Lucius addressed the group of fifteen Slytherin's before him.

They nodded.

"What is it?" He tested them trying not to let any wariness he felt show.

"We go in there and either grab all the mud and half bloods or keep the professors occupied. You'll make an example of the mudbloods in front of the others in the name of the Dark Lord."

Lucius nodded, satisfied. "And don't forget to keep your hoods up and masks on. Our bumbling headmaster thought it would be fun to have everyone to turn up to the feast in costume, nobody will know it's us."

Lucius led the way into the great hall followed by the Slytherin's behind him. He stopped dead just five steps into the room. No one was there, well, almost no one. There were a handful of people on each table and all the teachers were sat at their table, everyone looked rather annoyed.

"Where is everyone?" Lucius hissed, as he looked around bewildered.

"We were wondering just the same thing," McGonagall answered irritably.

"Sit down, Minerva," Dumbledore smiled, a twinkle in his eyes. "They're probably off just having a little fun, you can't begrudge them that."

McGonagall looked at the old headmaster like he was crazy. "Albus, you notice who is missing, I trust? They're up to something again."

"They're young boys, they're supposed to be 'up to something'."

"They're ruining the feast, I'm going to find them."

Just as she said this around thirty students filtered into the hall but no one else came in.

"Where have you been?" McGonagall's cool tone asked them sharply.

No one answered at first but a trembling first year stepped forward, as McGonagall's gaze seemed to be focussed on him. "There are some boys playing on the Quidditch field, we were watching them."

"I knew it!" McGonagall cried, turning to face Dumbledore. "Unsupervised and without permission! Who knows what state they're in now," and with that she stormed out of the Great Hall, heading straight for the Quidditch pitch.

Lucius, who had watched the whole scene with fascination, was sent back to his miserableness when it ended. By the time McGonagall had sorted out whatever was going on outside and everyone came back into the Great Hall it would be too late for their plan to go ahead. The Dark lord would be angry with this and Lucius would surely be punished.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Most of the school were sat in the Quidditch stands, watching the Marauders as they intently looked for the snitch. As time went by and there was still no sign of the golden ball, the crowd began to lose interest and dwindle away. Their evening meal was getting closer and all the students were starting to get hungry, the Marauders, who had skipped lunch, especially.

"This bloody thing better come so…ooh, there" James exclaimed as he began flying towards the glimmer of gold half a pitch away from him.

"He's seen it, Potter's spotted the snitch" A voice shouted from the remaining crowd. All those who had been drifting away turned and ran back to see as the four boys began flying to the centre of the pitch, seeming about to crash into one another. They watched as Peter, already having problems on his broom, realised a collision was inevitable, got scared and let go of his broom, falling the 50 foot drop to the ground. Sirius realised what was happening first and began the descent after his friend, Remus spotted him next and, seeing Sirius was on his way to help, whipped his wand out and cast a spell on Peter to slow his descent and make it easier for Sirius to catch him. James wasn't oblivious to what was going on around him; he had stopped to watch and was unsure what else he could do. He watched as Sirius made sure Peter was safe on his broom before flying the two of them back up to where he was before he went after Peter. The four boys looked at each other.

"We going to finish this?" Sirius asked, a grin on his face.

"Come on!" Voices in the crowd shouted. "Get a move on boys!"

Remus laughed, "Sounds like we have to," they looked to where the snitch was hovering just feet away. "On three."

"One," James said.

"Two," Remus counted.

"Three," Peter finished excited and the three brooms were moving once more.

"What is going on here?" A stern voice roared up to them, making them all jump and lose their concentration.

Remus and James flew into each other, Sirius swerved to avoid them, nearly dropping Peter from his broom as he did. The four boys regained themselves enough to steer their own brooms back to the ground to meet the firm look on Professor McGonagall's face.

"What did you boys think you were doing?" She asked, and edge of anger in her voice. "Flying up there unsupervised and without permission. It's dangerous!"

The boys answered at once, a muddled tale about Quidditch practice, new tricks and, somehow, leprechauns.

McGonagall huffed at their excuses. "Enough that will be twenty-five points from Gryffindor each and detention for a week for all of you and don't give me that look Potter, it's your own fault. Now, get inside and eat, all of you," she said this last bit loudly as she turned to address the crowd as well.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The colour change had been reversed and the eye bulging turned back to normal but the teeth chattering remained and the sickness came back so, between bouts of throwing up, Lily found herself shaking uncontrollably for the furiousness of teeth. As wretched as she felt at that moment, she couldn't help but feel a little relieved. She hadn't much been looking forward to crashing the dance and something in the way Alex had been persistently trying to convince her to attend the dance made Lily nervous. Sure, they were friends now but something seemed off about Alex, something that made Lily nervous.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Alex scribbled her note down furiously and gave it to the school owl, hoping it would reach Narcissa in time. With it now on its way, Alex sat on the bed in her dorm, arms around her knees and chin resting on them as she thought about what she had done. She had ruined the plans, Narcissa would be angry and Lucius probably more so. Merlin could only help Narcissa now.

Alex watched her clock, watched as it got closer and closer to seven o'clock, closer and closer to the start of their plan. She hoped Narcissa had got her letter, hoped that it wouldn't still go ahead but as the clock turned 7.01 she felt an increasing sense of dread. She got up from her bed and headed down to the dining hall, halfway there she heard the first scream. The first terror-filled scream that was only the beginning of what was to come that night.

Alex paled, her hands were clammy and she felt sick to her stomach, she ran back to her dorm, locking her door behind her. In the safety of her own room she let out her own muffled scream before tears began to fall. What had she done?

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Narcissa read the letter with an increasing sense of dread. Note clutched in her hand she walked quickly to the Great Hall, expecting to hear panic and terror when she opened the doors. Instead, her ears were assaulted with sounds of laughter and cheer. Realization that the plan hadn't gone as it was supposed to just served to make Narcissa more agitated as she headed to the Slytherin table, or rather to Lucius.

Lucius Malfoy's sneer seemed more prominent than usual, the look of distaste and anger on his face more obvious than usual. Narcissa knew he was in a bad mood, this would only make him worse.

"Malfoy, can I have a word outside, please?" She asked cautiously feeling several pairs of eyes watching her curiously.

Lucius didn't answer; he did stand up and begin the walk out of the room though. "What?" He demanded once they were outside.

"Read this," Narcissa handed him the note that Alex had sent her.

His eyes glanced over it before he turned to her. "So?"

"So? Call them off!"

"It's too late," he drawled, a sinister smile appearing on his already menacing features. "And besides, I don't know if you noticed but the plan here went more than a little wrong thanks to your bloody cousin and his friends. The rest must go to plan so the word gets out. So what if one mudblood gets left out? We can get her next time?"

"Next time?" Narcissa asked with a shudder at his cold tone. "You can't seriously be thinking of doing this again."

Lucius grabbed Narcissa's arm, squeezing it tightly. "Don't tell me what I can and can't do," he sneered at her. "I do what the Dark lord wants and asks of me, he is the only one with power of me. Do you understand?"

Narcissa, who was wincing at the pain in her arm and was fairly certain he was cutting off the blood flow, looked up at him with wide fearful eyes and nodded. "I understand Lucius."

"Good," he said, releasing her arm. "Now burn that letter and get to the feast, no doubt your cousin has noticed your non-appearance."

Narcissa nodded, looking once more at the letter as Lucius entered the Great Hall.

_Narcissa, things have gone wrong. Evans is confined to the hospital wing and won't be released for a week; she won't be attending the feast. Get them to call it off, there's no point in doing it if she won't be there. A xx_

She put it in her pocket and slipped into the Great Hall herself, trying to go unnoticed but being spotted by Sirius and James who ended up involving her in a debate they were having over how big Snape's nose really was.


	5. The Days That Follow

**A/N: **Well now, you can thank the real Tae for this chapter, she's been bugging me and bugging me to get it written because apparently nobody writes better than me and she has nothing else to read, her words, not mine. So, here it is, it was meant to be out earlier but I was too lazy. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 5**

_As readers may remember, earlier this year we reported on terrible attacks towards Muggle-born witches and wizards. Just as authorities were getting close to finding the purpose behind these crimes, the attacks died off for the summer. Now, as we start the eleventh month of the year, it seems the perpetrators are back, and worse than ever.  
__Gangs of men in white robes and silver facemasks assaulted magical schools across the world. Muggle-born and half-blood witches and wizards were beaten and humiliated in front of students and teachers at their Halloween celebrations last night. Though reports have yet to be confirmed, it is believed that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is the only school not to have faced the horrific attacks last night.  
__One onlooker describes the events; "It was horrible. They all came into the dining hall and started ordering us around, casting spells to separate us. Most of us were pushed back and a barrier put in front of us so we just had to watch on and couldn't do anything to stop them. They cursed and charmed the others, made them do things no one should have to, did things to them that people shouldn't have to go through. It was horrible for us to watch, I can't begin to imagine how it must have been for them."  
__All of the attacks seem to have been similar and were all done in the name of the _Dark Lord Voldemort_. As of yet no one knows who this man is, though authorities are looking into the matter, as well as how the attacks could happen in so many places at the same time and why Hogwarts is believed to be the only school not hit by the vicious attacks._

"Have you seen this?" Alice slammed the newspaper down on the table. Her face was pale and she showed hints of anger.

"What is it?" Both Marie and Tae turned to look at her. Not many others in the Great Hall did though, most had their own copy of the _Daily Prophet_ and those who didn't were looking at their friends, like Marie and Tae were now doing.

"Is this a joke?"

"I wish," Alice answered, small tears brimming in her eyes. "My mum sent me a letter; my cousin in Madrid saw it firsthand. It's horrible, who would do something like that?"

Tae budged over on the bench and Alice sat between the two girls so they could comfort her. "I don't know, they're sick though. Funny though, how we're the only ones who didn't get attacked, you'd think they'd come here, too."

"Maybe they're scared of Dumbledore?" Marie suggested.

Tae shrugged, "I don't think so. I know he's dead powerful but it just seems a little off that they wouldn't try to attack here, too, just to test him."

"Tae's right," Alice agreed. "I think something happened last night that made them have to stop."

"Like what?" Marie asked confused.

"I don't know but I know someone who can give us a few suggestions." Alice got up from her comfort position between her two friends and hurried out of the Great Hall quickly.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Remus was carefully reading the article in the _Daily Prophet_ for the hundredth time whilst Peter tucked into his breakfast without a care in the world. Sirius was staring intently at the Slytherin table and James, who had come down later than the others, had just finished reading the article over Remus' shoulder when Sirius spoke.

"Look at them, I bet they had something to do with it."

"Who?" Remus asked wearily, almost too afraid to ask.

"The Slytherins, Malfoy, Snape and the gang."

Remus rolled his eyes, "They were here all night, Sirius, and you saw them. How could you possibly think they had anything to do it _that_?"

"I don't know," Sirius faltered his thoughts for a moment. "But look at them, all smug and pleased with themselves, they're connected someway."

Remus shot James a pleading look, James nodded. "Sir, mate, I think our moon-driven pal might be right about this one. They were here all night with us."

"How can we be so sure? We were all in costume…" Sirius gasped. "Give me that article."

Looking dubious but humouring his friend, Remus passed the newspaper on. Sirius scanned the page in great detail before a loud "a-ha!" was heard from him.

"Look," Sirius pointed to the part of the article that described the clothing worn by the attackers.

"White robes and silver masks?" Remus asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, did nobody else notice loads of them wearing that same outfit yesterday?"

Remus and James thought back, shaking their heads. "I think you're imaging things, Sir," James answered. "You want them to be responsible s you're applying things to them."

"No!" Sirius cried, "They were, I swear it on Peter's life."

For the first time Peter's head peaked up in interest, it was soon put down again. James snorted and Remus shook his head. "Sorry, mate, but I just can't see it."

"Fine!" Sirius announced angrily, getting up off the bench. "You can't but I can and I'm going to prove it to you!" And then he stormed off, no one saw him again until that night when his mood had improved and he even apologised for the outburst.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Lily didn't know much about what was going on but she knew something was wrong. The night before Lily had been lying in her bed in the infirmary when she'd heard screams and shouts from somewhere below her. Still feeling nauseous she was in no condition to get up and investigate, despite her best intentions. She didn't have to wonder for long, about ten minutes after the shouting started it ceased and a further five minutes saw the abrupt entrance of several panic-stricken professors and older students carrying and supporting others into the room. Unconscious students were carried by magic and Lily watched in confusion at the scene going on before her.

No one offered explanation for what had happened and she was forced to watch as the medi-witch set to work on the injured and wounded patients before her. Those professors with some medical knowledge helped the frazzled witch with her work. The students who had brought the others in aided anyone with small cuts, scratches and bruises. Those who were more emotionally affected than physically were gathered at one corner by the head teacher who would take them on to receive emotional counselling. The over-worked medi-witch forgot about her other patient as she tended to as many of the 'serious' cases as were possible.

A few hours after the first scream, the hysteria was starting to die down. Only a small handful of people remained in the infirmary but Lily still had no clue what had happened. When the medi-witch had come to check on Lily's condition she refused to answer any questions about what had happened. Over the next 6 days, each time the medi-witch came Lily would ask her what had happened and each time she would be ignored and not receive and answer. As the other patients became healthier, Lily tried asking them, too but no one would answer her question. She would have asked Alex what had happened had Alex come and visited her but she didn't and so, for the seven days she was locked up in the infirmary, Lily's curiosity ran wild.

By the time she was released she had imagined so many different scenarios and each one, though wilder and wilder, all seemed possible. It was not until she got back to her bedroom that she had even a tiny inkling of the reality of what had happened. The actuality of what had happened was far worse than what she had imagined. Since she'd known she would be going on the exchange, Lily had taken out a subscription with _The Daily Prophet_ so that she could keep up-to-date with the goings on in the Muggle world. With them not allowed to enter the infirmary, she returned to her room to find seven owls waiting, most impatiently, for Lily's return. Guiltily she paid the owls and advised they head for the owlery if they needed anything. Angrily they flew away, she never knew where. She also found a few letters waiting for her, too. The letters she opened first.

_Lily honey, we haven't heard from you in such a while, we just wanted to make sure you're okay. Your father's been promoted, he's now deputy something-or-other in Grunnings (you know I never did pay much attention to the goings-on of the company, it bores me so). Petunia's doing fine, I think. She doesn't talk to us much anymore. I wish you were here with us. I miss you, sweetie._

_Mum xx_

There were three more letters, she could tell from the writing who they were off, she opened the first with a grin.

_Lil, I wish I were writing under better conditions but under the circumstance I feel it best to write and make sure you are okay. I heard about the attacks and I wanted to make sure nothing had happened to you. Merlin, Lily, I couldn't handle it if those… animals had done anything to you but I don't see how they couldn't. You're Muggle-born and they were there. Please, write me back, let me know you're okay…  
__Remus_

Worried by the words Remus had written she opened another of her letters, also written by him. It was much shorter.

_Lil…You didn't write, oh Merlin, I hope it doesn't mean what it looks like. Tell me you're just busy.  
__Remus_

Obviously whatever Remus was talking about had to do with what had happened on Halloween, whatever it was that Lily still had to find out.

_Lily! We heard what happened, are you okay? It's all over the Prophet, the attacks, the men, they didn't do anything to you did they? I hope you're safe, tell me what happened.  
__I'll tell you all the news when you write back. Please write back, we're all worried, even the Marauders are acting differently. Hogwarts may have been spared the attacks but that doesn't mean it didn't affect us.  
__Hoping you're safe,  
__Alice x_

However curious Lily had been, her interest was peaked even more so by now and she turned to the issues of the _Prophet_. Alice had said they had written about the incident in there so to Lily it seemed like the logical place to look for answers. She read the article and, by the time she had finished, had the same feeling of dread and horror that the others had had when they read it. This couldn't have happened, surely. Who would do something like that? After she got over the shock of what had happened she was hit by the realisation of how close it was to happening to her. She was meant to be at the dance, well she wasn't but Alex had wanted her to go so she should have been in that sense. She would have been, too, if she hadn't been forced to take that potion for her sickness.

She felt cold and clammy and her palms were sweaty. The feathers of her quill stuck to her hand as she prepared to write replies to her letters. Her letters were shaky but eventually she had them written.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Tae sat in the Gryffindor common room curled up on a chair with a drawing pad and charcoal. What she was drawing was anyone guess, she had no object in front of her and instead just looked up and stared at the wall blankly before putting her head back down to sketch some more. Her blonde and blue hair fell like a curtain around her and the pad. She was deeply absorbed in her drawing and didn't notice when someone stepped up behind her.

"Hey, Tae."

Her head whipped up sharply at the voice, her eyes wide in surprise. "Oh, it's you," she didn't sound too enthusiastic at the sight of the person before her.

She got a grin in return. "I know you're excited to see me, really."

"Oh yeah," she said half-heartedly. "As excited as I am when I hear I have to spend a detention with McGonagall."

"Hey! Minnie's detentions are fun!"

"Sure they are, Black."

Sirius ignored her tone and leant forward, admiring her picture. "Who is that?"

Tae rolled her eyes, "Go away."

"No, I want to know."

"Child," she muttered quietly before turning the pad round to face the annoying boy before her.

Sirius squinted and moved his head from side-to-side. "Is that…No, it's a banana, right?"

Tae glared at him and pulled the pad back towards her.

"I'm joking," he grinned, "I know, its niffler, like the ones we were studying in Care of Magical Creatures before."

Tae looked at him in surprise.

"What?" he asked when he saw her face. "You think you're the only person who can appreciate art? It's a good drawing by the way, you missed the detail on the nose though." And with that said he got up and walked away, leaving Tae to watch him go in amused wonder.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Alice was sat in the common room, too, though she was sat at the other end with Marie, Narcissa and the Marauders. Marie and Remus were involved in a flirty conversation about Quidditch, James and Narcissa were getting closer and closer and Sirius and Peter were in the middle of a game of Wizarding chess. Alice watched them all in boredom, she hated not having anything to do, and so when the owl arrived she was quite happy for the break.

"Oh, finally!" she exclaimed when she saw the familiar scrawl that was Lily's writing.

Marie and Remus looked over at her; everyone else continued what they were doing. "What is it?" Marie asked.

"Letter off Lily, I wrote a week ago to check she was okay but I never got a reply."

"Me either," Remus admitted, looking round to see if there was an owl for him since Alice had one. Marie frowned at his behaviour but he didn't notice.

"Oh, she's fine," Narcissa snapped impatiently at their behaviour. "She wasn't even in the room at the time."

She said this as Alice read the letter so nobody really paid attention to her.

_Alice, I'm fine, I didn't even know what had happened until a few minutes ago. I got sick on Halloween, me and Alex were meant to be crashing the Halloween party they were having here but I ended up spending the day in the infirmary after the stupid nurse gave me some anti-sickness potion. Anyway, long story short, I wasn't there. It's horrible though, isn't it? I can't believe nothing happened at Hogwarts, though it's good it didn't.  
__I better go, I have a week worth of stuff to catch up on and I want to see Alex. Can you believe she didn't come visit me once? So yeah, there's a letter for Remus in the envelope, pass it on for me? Thanks!  
__Lily_

Alice handed Remus the letter he'd been waiting for, it was pretty similar to Alice's except Remus' also said _I was right_ about what though it made no reference. Once he'd finished reading and he, Alice and Marie (who had read over his shoulder) had digested the words they turned to Narcissa.

"How did you know she wasn't there?"

Narcissa, who had been whispering into James' ear and playing with a strand of her hair, looked at them, annoyed then startled as she processed what they'd said. "Hmm?"

"Lily, you said she wasn't in the room, how did you know?"

"Oh…erm…Alex! Yeah, Alex wrote me and complained because Beauxbatons was doing something for Halloween but she was too young to go. Evans wouldn't have been there if they were too young, would she? You not what a stickler for the rules she is."

Alice looked doubtful but the others let the conversation drop once James said, "Look, Evans is fine and it's sad and all but it doesn't concern us, can we drop it and get back to what we were doing?" He looked pointedly at them all but his gaze soon drifted back to Narcissa. Alice, fed up and repulsed by the display of the couples before her, turned to Sirius and Peter only to find Peter gone and Sirius heading towards Tae. Sighing she got up and went to her dormitory, she refused to put up with that sickening sight any longer.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Back in Beauxbatons, Lily was on a mission. She was going to find Alex and find out just what her problem was. They were meant to be friends, weren't they, and yet she'd allowed Lily to be poisoned and not even visited her for a week. To Lily that wasn't friendship at all. She'd tried everywhere inside the building, the only place left to look was outside.

As cold as Beauxbatons was, Lily liked the outside of the large castle. Flowers bloomed no matter what the time of year and on cold days like today, seemed to thrive in the atmosphere. The flowers were all kinds of different colours and shades, each one brighter than the one before it. Despite the bright and blossoming flowers, the grass was crispy and almost blue with the frost that clung to it. It truly was a beautiful sight. She made a mental note to get some pictures taken before her year was up. Her mum would love this.

The grounds went on for miles but Lily saw Alex pretty close to the building. She was sitting in a group of students, older than herself by a few years, but all listening to her intently. Lily made her way towards the group, her feet crunching on the frozen grass beneath her.

"Alex," she called when she was still some distance away.

Alex stopped talking and turned to Lily. "Hi! You're out of the infirmary then?" Lily nodded. "Cool, come and sit with us."

Lily shook her head; "I need to talk to you, alone." She cast a wary glance at the group. They were all watching Lily closely, some glaring, they reminded Lily of the Slytherin back home.

Alex turned back to face the group, Lily didn't hear the sigh she made or see the roll of her eyes. "Je serai arrière dans quelques minutes," she spoke in fluent French.

"What do you need?" She asked when she reached Lily.

"I want to know a few things," she said, her face growing red. "Like why you let that dumb witch give me the anti-sickness potion when you knew what it does to me and why you didn't come visit me the whole time I was in the infirmary. And then I want to know why you were pushing me to go to that stupid Halloween thing in the first place, did you know what was going to happen?"

"What?" Alex looked shocked. "No, of course not, how could you think that Lily? I thought we should go because I thought it would be fun, how was I to know that those things would do what they did?"

Lily just stared at her, Alex sighed.

"And as for the rest, I forgot you were allergic Lil, people forget, it happens. The last time you took that stuff was right at the beginning of first year, we haven't spoken for nearly a whole year, I forgot all about it. And as for not visiting you, that 'stupid witch' in the infirmary wouldn't let me in. After you drank the potion she decided it was all my fault and wouldn't let be back in but I swear Lil, I honestly forgot and if I had been allowed in I would have done."

Lily could sense the honesty in her voice and sniffed. "Alright, I'm sorry. Now tell me what happened that night…"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Later that night as she went to bed, Alex marvelled at how gullible Lily was and how it easy it was to fool her. Could the girl not see that Alex hated her with every fibre of her being? True, she had forgot about the potion, she didn't want to ruin that night, but the rest, all of it, the whole friendship, how could she not see. Alex went to sleep with a truly Slytherin-esque smirk on her face. Some people really were just stupid.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Lily wasn't as clueless as Alex seemed to believe, true she believed her story but she still had her doubts. Something about Alex really just didn't add up and Lily was going to find out what. In the meantime she'd have to keep closer watch on what was happening around the world. It was obvious, to her at least, that this Voldemort character was gaining more and more support. Lily cut out the article about the attack and stuck it into her scrapbook, writing the date of the incident above it. She checked the other newspapers to find anymore articles, any that seemed remotely linked she also put into her book. She'd show Remus she'd been right all along.

* * *

**A/N 2: **I'm using a translator site for when Alex and others speak so it's probably not accurate but it's meant to say "I'll be back in a few minutes". 

Did you like? Review and tell me :D


	6. A Strange Day

**Chapter 6**

After the Halloween Attacks, as they fast became known, and the week that followed there was little mention of any more such attacks, or at least, not on such a large scale. A few incidents were reported but they were minor things that seemingly had no relation to the happenings of October 31st. In fact, no one really thought anything of them except a select few and these were in no hurry to voice their concerns. And so life returned pretty much back to normal. Those who had been attacked slowly rejoined their lessons, their physical ailments treated. Emotional support remained a constant presence for anyone who had been involved in the attacks. But for those who hadn't been witness to the scenes, life went on as normal. Lessons were held, homework was completed, Quidditch was played and weekend visits were held. And for the students of Hogwarts particularly, it was never mentioned, unless in quiet whispers, for fear it happened again and this time to them. Things went on like this until the beginning of December for it was at this time that another attack occurred.

"What are you drawing today?" Sirius asked as he sat on the couch beside Tae. Annoying the girl had become a rather amusing pastime for him as of late, especially when she was drawing.

Tae didn't even blink at his presence; she had almost been expecting the interruption. "I'm not sure, it's just a little picture I've had in my head. If you wait a couple of minutes, I'm nearly done."

She could see him nodding out of the corner of her eye as he settled himself comfortably onto the couch while he waited. Her hand worked furiously across the parchment and he watched her with interest until she was finished.

"You've got a real skill there," he complimented easily. "The way your hand moves, it's like it's weightless."

A slight blush started at her neck. "Thanks, but there's nothing to it once you get started, it just kind of takes over."

"I'll have to take your word for it since I can't draw."

"Sure you can, everyone can draw."

Sirius shook his head, "I can't."

"Give it a try, draw something you like…a broomstick or a Quidditch ball, something simple."

She handed him the pad and charcoal and he thought before turning to a blank page and sketching. Once he had finished he handed them back.

"Well, that's certainly an interesting picture Sirius," Tae held back a little laughter at seeing the hurt look on his face. "Hey, no, I can see the problem."

"What is it?" Sirius was all ears for her observation.

"You're holding the charcoal too tight, you're not letting yourself feel the drawing. You've just got to let yourself go sometimes."

Sirius looked at her as though she were crazy. "Again, I'll have to take your word for it."

"Suit yourself," Tae shrugged indifferently. She began to find the next blank page when Sirius spoke up again."

"Could I have a look at your drawings?"

"Uh," a little surprised, Tae paused before answering. "Yeah, I don't see why not."

Sirius smiled as he took the pad once more and began flicking through. "You got serious talent there, Ruris. I don't think I've ever seen anything this good since…where have you seen that?"

"What?" Tae asked, pulling herself over to look at the picture. Even from upside down she could make out the shape of a skull with a snake looping through it. She frowned, she didn't even remember drawing it. "I don't know it's probably just something from my imagination. You know how sometimes you can get a song stuck in there and it won't leave you alone until you get it out of your system?" Sirius nodded. "Yeah, well that's what happens to me with an image until I can draw it out. Sometimes I don't even realise what I've done."

"Hmm," Sirius sounded thoughtfully. "I've seen it somewhere before, it's not good, whatever it is. Don't let people see you with it."

"I won't," she promised. "In fact, here," she tore the page from her pad. "You take it. I don't want it and I'm sure you and the boys have ways of getting rid of stuff, use one of them."

Sirius nodded, "Sure, I can do that." Tae gave him a bright smile in return.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Is there a Hogsmeade weekend coming up?" Peter squeaked a couple of days later.

"No," James sighed at the thought. It had been over a month since the last one and there wasn't another one planned until after Christmas.

To four boys who thrived on adventure, doing the same thing and seeing the same walls all the time wasn't good for them. They needed change, something different. Or maybe the real problem was that they wanted some more joke products and they had to wait to get them.

"We could still go though," Sirius supplied happily.

"Sirius!" Remus said scandalised by the thought. "We're not allowed, we'd be caught. There's a reason we're only allowed there on special days."

James, who was all for Sirius' idea, looked at Remus pityingly. "Remmy, Remmy, Remus. You're a Marauder; rules shouldn't bother you. Nothing's going to happen."

Remus still looked doubtful. "Fine, but I'm not going, you can get yourselves out of trouble."

"Spoilsport," Sirius said. "You better not change your mind, I'm going to fill up your space." He got up and began to walk away.

James called after him, "Sir, none of your 'friends', please!" Sirius just turned and flashed an impish grin in the direction of his best friend.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"What do you want now?" Tae sighed in exasperation as Sirius plonked down opposite her.

"To invite you out."

She looked at him with mild interest, "Out where?"

"Hogsmeade, this weekend. James, Peter and I are taking a trip and there's a spare place if you want it."

"I don't think so, Black."

"Why not? It'll be fun."

"I doubt it, stuck with you three isn't exactly my idea of fun."

Sirius stared at her a minute before smiling, "You know, _Tegwen_, you're not totally unlike us. Sure, you use your pranking abilities for payback rather than actual fun but it's all there."

She shot him a dark look. "I have fun getting you lot back."

"I'm sure you do, which reminds me, that pack of llama you set on me in Care of Magical Creatures the other day? Harsh."

Tae laughed as she remembered the scene. "It's a herd, not a pack, and you deserved it; I know it was you who sent the flying wildebeest after me."

Now it was time fir Sirius to laugh, "Fair enough, I may have deserved it then. Anyway, we're getting off topic…Come to Hogsmeade with us."

"I don't think so; it's not even a Hogsmeade weekend."

"And? Come on, it'll be fun."

"Why are you so desperate for me to come?"

"Honestly?" Sirius asked, leaning closer to her until she could feel his warm breath on her ear when he spoke again. "Peter gets whiny when me and James talk and he gets left out, if you come we can palm him off on you and have some _real_ fun."

Tae mock-glared at him. "Well, when you put it like that…no!"

"Please, Ruris? I'll do anything you want."

"Anything?" Tae's eyebrow rose with interest.

"Anything," he affirmed with a nod.

"Okay then, Black, you got yourself a deal," she put out her hand. He shook it as way of sealing the deal, it was only when their hands broke apart that he realised the look of pure evil in her eyes.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

And so, that weekend, Peter, James, Sirius and Tae made their way down the passage from Hogwarts to Honeydukes cellar.

"I bet this doesn't even lead to Honeydukes, does it?" Tae asked suspiciously after they'd been walking for ten minutes. "Why did I agree to this? Me, you three, a dark passageway leading to Merlin only knows where and I was stupid enough to come along. Will you do me one favour? Tell my sister I only stole the nail polish because it looked better on me and I didn't mean to ruin her skirt it just –"

"Will you shut up!" James cried, the noise of Tae's constant drabble threatening to make his head explode. He turned to Sirius and muttered, "And I thought Tacea was bad, you can't half pick them."

"She's never been like this before but I'm about ready to kill her myself," Sirius agreed.

"Yeah, me too," Peter supplied. "Can't we just send her back or something?"

Tae burst into a not-so-subtle bout of coughs before settling down again. Sirius shot her a sharp look that barely concealed the eye rolling he was holding back.

"What are you talking about, Petey?" Sirius asked. "She's great, why would you want to send her away?" He moved away from the boys and fell into step behind Tae. Arms on her shoulders he began steering her down the passage. "Come on you paranoid little freak, we're wasting a perfect day stuck in this little hole." The two went on ahead of James and Peter, minutes later their laughter floated back to them.

"Huh?" Peter blinked after them. "What just happened there?"

"I have no idea," James answered just as bewildered.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Sirius, stop it!" Tae giggled, wriggling out of Sirius' grasp. "I think you're embarrassing your little friends."

"Oh, don't stop on our account," James glared at Tae.

"Yeah," Peter agreed. "We're quite enjoying the show."

"By which he means it's making us sick to the stomach but if you two are having fun you just carry on," James added sarcastically.

"Okay," Tae chirped brightly grabbing Sirius' hand. "Come on, let's go to Madam Puddifoots."

Sirius turned around to grin at his friends and gave them a helpless shrug at their indignant expressions.

James shook his head, "There is something very wrong with that scene," he commented in despair.

"Uh-huh," Peter agreed with wide eyes.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Sat in the café/romantic teashop, Sirius and Tae laughed over two mugs of hot chocolate.

"Did you see their faces?" Sirius roared. "You were right, this is shaping up to be a fun day."

Tae beamed, "I told you, it's just fun to mess with their heads. You know what's next, don't you?"

"Of course, next comes the big freeze."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

James stood by the counter of Gregin's Jewels waiting for the shop attendant to realise he was there. After a few moments of boredom he coughed loudly, the old lady jumped and turned around, clutching her heart.

"You trying to give me a heart attack boy?" She peered at him over small glasses.

"No, just get your attention," he returned in a no-nonsense voice. "I'm here to pick up a package for Potter."

"Strange," the woman commented, "You don't strike me as someone who'd go for feminine gold bracelets."

James ignored her, "Do you have it ready or not?"

"Of course, Mr Potter, one gold wrist chain with gold feather charm. That'll be five galleons and three sickles, please."

James slapped down the amount.

"Temper, Mr Potter."

James glared at the woman before whirling around to come face to face with Tae.

"Ooh, you buying things? Let me see."

"I don't think so, why aren't you with Sirius anyway."

"Urgh, that over-bearing, mangy dog, I don't think so."

"Aww, you had a falling out?" James asked in fake sympathy.

"No," Tae said in a tone that implied she was lying. "I just got fed up of him bossing me around all the time."

"He was bossing you around?" James asked incredulously. "Okay then."

"Mm-hmm," she sounded non-committally. "Anyway, package, let me see."

James scowled at her, "I thought French girls were meant to be polite and shy and not annoying."

"James, James, James, you forget, I'm not French and besides," she leant in to whisper in his ear, "That's all a myth. Now show me the jewels."

"No!" He cried in exasperation. "Why can't you go annoy someone else?"

"Because its so much fun annoying you Jimmy-Poo," she pinched his cheek. James brought his hand to swat hers off his cheek; unfortunately it was the same hand containing the jewellery shop bag, which meant that Tae was able to swipe it from him.

"Ooh, is this for me?" She squealed as she opened the bag and took out the box. Opening it she gasped, "Oh, James, its so…plain. Who's this for?"

"My mum, it's not just the chain though."

"Oh? Oh! So, it's not, this _is_ pretty, a cute little feather. Why didn't you get it connected?"

James snapped the box shut and snatched it from her. "The feather doesn't go with that chain."

"Who's the feather for then?"

"My cousin," he answered quickly then let out a frustrated groan. "Why am I even talking to you? Go and find somebody else to annoy."

"I already told you, Potter, I prefer annoy –" The rest of her sentence was cut off by screams of panic coming from around the corner.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Peter!" Sirius cried. "Where's James got to?"

"I don't know, he said he'd meet me back here in half an hour, he should come along any time now." Peter gave a nervous twitch and looked around Sirius. "Where's Tae gone?"

"Oh, she was getting on my nerves so I knocked her out and buried her alive near the shack," Sirius answered nonchalantly.

Peter chuckled, "Yeah, right, where is she really?"

Sirius looked at him blankly, "I just told you, Peter."

Peter's face turned from amusement to shock to panic in seemingly the same moment. "Oh Merlin."

Sirius didn't get chance to laugh, screams of terror came from outside the shop they were stood in, the boys ran to investigate.

* * *

**A/N: **I actually thought this was longer than it was but then I liked the little cliffie to end it on so tough. There's probably little details I got wrong, I will check them later but I'm in a rush here and you should be glad you got the chapter at all. I've been having computer problems _again_ and then I was tempted to make you wait as payback to Tae who thinks her mum's birthday is more important than coming to the cinema with me. I don't know where she gets that idea from... 


	7. Heroism In Action

**Chapter 7**

Lily threw her lost odd sock into her trunk and snapped the lid shut. Finally she was going home. After 3 months, 3 weeks and 2 days in Beauxbatons Lily was ready to go home and see her family. Even seeing Petunia was preferable to another night in this ice castle. It wasn't that she didn't like Beauxbatons; she just felt that nothing was comparable when it came nearly three weeks at home with her family. Recasting the weightless spell all trunks were provided with, simply because she would hate for it to suddenly wear off, even though common sense told her it wouldn't, Lily pulled the trunk out of her dorm and down the corridor where she stopped at Alex's door and knocked.

"Yeah?" Came Alex's muffled voice from within, a voice Lily took to be an invitation to enter.

"Alex!" she admonished. "You're nowhere near packed. Hurry up, we're due to leave in three hours."

"I am," she declared defiantly as she wriggled out from under the bed, a triumphant look on her face as she clutched a pink and blue shirt. At the disapproving look on Lily's face she sighed, "I am. I just have to shove it all in the trunk. I'll be ten minutes."

Lily, though doubtful, nodded and sat on the edge of Alex's bed watching her. Half an hour later Alex seemed no closer to being packed and Lily sat watching her with a rather superior told-you-so look. Alex glared up at her.

"You know, you could help."

"I could," Lily agreed. "But how would that help you learn not to leave things until the last minute?"

"You left it until the last minute too," Alex pointed out.

"I know but I know the spell that makes packing so much easier, you insist on doing it the muggle way."

"Lily!" Alex cried. "You're sat there watching me suffer and you can do it with the wave of a wand?"

"Actually it's five waves, but yes," she leant back further on the bed, making herself comfy.

"Well…" Alex looked at her desperately.

"What?" Lily shrugged casually.

"Do it then."

"Oh! No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Don't want to."

"I'll pay you."

"I don't want your money."

"I'll buy you a really good Christmas present."

"You've already bought my present."

Alex sighed, running out of ideas, time for the old hopeful. "I'll be your best friend forever."

Lily laughed, "I might not want you to be my friend forever."

"Course you do, why wouldn't you?"

Lily just smiled peacefully and closed her eyes, "Wake me when you're done."

Resisting the urge to get up and throttle her 'friend' where she sat, Alex continued to throw things into her trunk.

Lily casually opened one eye, grinning at seeing Alex struggle with her packing. She closed her eye again. Half an hour later progress was visible, as little as it was, and Lily began to take pity on her. Casually she waved her wand and Alex's clothes, parchments, books and things began to sort themselves out and neatly place themselves in her trunk.

"You were taking too long," Lily commented as she got up off the bed. "Can we go now?"

"Wha…Thank you."

Lily just shrugged in response and began to lead the way to the head teacher's office where they would floo to the Leaky Cauldron in London to meet their families.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Sirius and Peter reached the scene first and stared in horror at the sight before them. White robes and silver masks, a dozen or so men stormed the busy street of Hogsmeade cursing anyone within sight. Peter let out a terrified squeak and ran to the left of Sirius, crouching down behind a bin and out of sight. Sirius, as tempted as he was to join his little friend, stopped dead when he saw James and Tae round the corner, directly in the way of the men in white. Spells flew from his wand faster than he seemed to be shouting them. The three men bringing up the rear fell to the floor under different spells, two more narrowly missed being hit my jelly-legs jinxes. They turned and moved away from the group heading straight for Sirius who squeezed his eyes shut and pointed his wand, firing off as many curses as he could think of.

A female scream and a male shout brought him back to his senses and he opened his eyes to find no one stood before him but half of the group just metres away from James and Tae, both of whom appeared to have been fighting just as hard as him, though perhaps with a bit more precision. Still, as the group got closer, they seemed to be losing their will to fight and before he knew what was happening Sirius could feel himself running towards his friends.

He burst through the group of men in white, punching and kicking whoever got in his way. He didn't care, his focus was on getting to his friends and nothing was going to stop him. He reached them just as a stunning spell was being sent their way. Sirius dived in front of them, the full force of the spell hitting him in the chest. He landed face down with a bit of a slide left over from his dive.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The stunning spell was heading straight for them and Merlin only knew what would happen to them then. Tae shut her eyes tightly, imagining she were anywhere but here, anywhere but about to get stunned and probably killed by maniacs in disguise. James, at least, was a bit more practical, he saw the spell coming and grabbed Tae's wrist, if this were going to happen, he wasn't going to go through it alone. He was about to duck when a body threw itself in front of them. He watched as the spell hit the body in the chest and it rolled, falling and sliding across the floor. It took him a moment to digest what had happened.

"Sirius," Tae gasped, crouching down and rolling him over. His head, now face up and in her lap, was bloody and scratched, stones and dirt stuck in his wounds, his chest was ripped open, blood pouring from it.

James, angered by the state of his friend, whipped his wand out with a renewed vigour. Spells flew in every direction, the sources of them unidentifiable in the once-busy street. James could feel himself getting pushed further and further back, his back getting closer to the wall with each step. It was one-on-one now and the man in white seemed to be winning.

"Expelliarmus!" A cry came from behind.

The man's wand flew from his hand and he scrambled after it. He turned to find himself face-to-face with a task force of Aurors twice the size of his original group and now, facing twenty four-on-one odds, he was willing to admit defeat. With a quick wave of his wand the man disapparated before their very eyes, in his wake was a street of people either hiding, unconscious or worse and in the air there hovered a rather large and grotesque symbol. A skull with a snake threading through it floated high above them, chilling them all. Tae in particular paled at the sight of the symbol, the same symbol Sirius had spotted in her sketchbook, and the same symbol he'd warned her not to be seen with. She looked down with wonder at the head in her lap, wiping away some of the hair that was matted to his forehead by blood, and couldn't help but wonder just how he knew about the symbol.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"…Stupid, irresponsible things to do, and you Miss Ruris, a guest to this school, not to mention I thought you had more sense than these three. What made you think you would get away this?"

James looked down guiltily at his scuffed shoes, Peter visibly cowered where he sat but Tae looked boldly at their headmaster. When the Aurors were mostly disapparated and only a few remained to clear up the situation, Peter finally felt comfortable braving the street. He was, of course, immediately spotted and taken to join James, Tae and Sirius, the latter of who was receiving basic treatment for his face and chest. Once his cuts were cleaned up all four students were escorted back to Hogwarts where Dumbledore was already waiting. Sirius was taken to the hospital wing to receive proper treatment from Dr Nedalski while the other three continued on to Professor Dumbledore's office. It was here that they had faced what could only be called the Headteacher's wrath though, James noted with some humour, it was nothing compared to Evans'. Somehow words intended (and working) to make them guilty were nothing compared to the threat of ones life, they were quite shameful though.

Dumbledore had started with the typical round on how irresponsible it was to leave school grounds unattended and without permission, then moved on to the speech about how they shouldn't have been able to get off school premises unnoticed anyway. He then gave them a little bit on how there were bigger things in the world than entertainment for the four of them and how did they think they would get away with it? He then brought it all together for a nice concluding bit. That was where they were up to now.

"With all due respect sir," Tae answered. "You can't possibly think we were stupid enough to think we'd get away with this for one minute. Well, they might have been, I wasn't but that's hardly the point."

"Ruris, shut up," James hissed at her shooting a quick glance at Dumbledore. To his great surprise Dumbledore was smiling in amusement, his eyes twinkling with it.

"Continue, Miss Ruris," Dumbledore said as though James hadn't interrupted.

"Well, sure we snuck out and broke about hundred school rules but it was for a good reason."

"Oh?" Dumbledore linked his long fingers together and leant his chin on them, his elbows on the table. He leant forward, waiting to hear more.

"Yeah," Tae looked around the room, trying to find a good excuse; her eyes fell on a certain messy-haired boy. "James wanted to buy a Christmas present for his mum and I was helping him pick it out, the others just tagged along."

"Is that right?" Dumbledore questioned, looking at the two boys in the room.

"Yes," James answered quickly after a barely long enough pause.

"And he's such a typical guy that he left his Christmas shopping until the last minute," she shot another look at James, this time a more withering glance. "And because we leave tomorrow and I'm back to France we had to go today. I'm sorry we resorted to sneaking out though."

"Yeah, me too," James nodded emphatically.

"And me," Peter piped up after he cottoned on to what the other two were doing.

Dumbledore smiled, "That's a creative story, Miss Ruris but not enough to get you out of punishments. Let me see…I think it'll be fifty points off each of you and two weeks detention after the holidays."

"Oh, but Professor –"

"No buts, Potter, you've flaunted rules often enough to know it warrants punishment."

Sheepishly, James looked down at his feet and nodded glumly.

"Good behaviour, however, deserves reward and I honestly can think of no better behaviour than heroism."

"Huh?" James looked up from his feet to stare at the eccentric man before him.

"There aren't many who could stand their ground against an attack by Death Eaters, especially not fourteen year olds. You showed courage and ingenuity beyond your years. For that I reward you each seventy-five points." He smiled at the three guilty-looking students before him. "I believe that gives Gryffindor one hundred more points than they started the day with, hmm?"

Peter was beaming at this news. While the idea of more points did please James and Tae, the events of the day and subsequent reality check made their sixty-three points lead trivial. Still, it was good news to hear and the punishment wasn't too severe. At least it was all over now.

"Well, off you go. I'm sure Doctor Nedalski has finished with Mr Black by now."

"Yes, of course, thank you Professor," Tae said as she stood up hurriedly, motioning for the boys to do the same.

"Thank you," James echoed as he followed her.

"Bye," Peter squeaked, bringing up the rear.

The three teenagers made their way down the stairs and out onto the hall outside the entrance to Dumbledore's office. It was then that a thought occurred to Peter, "What's a Death Eater?"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I warned you something bad would happen," Remus scolded Sirius in the Hospital Wing.

Doctor Nedalski took half an hour to treat Sirius. Apparently he'd been hit with a combination of a stunning charm and one intended to inflict serious wounds on the victim. There was no significant damage caused by the spell, according to Nedalski the Aurors on scene had done a good job in healing the gash before reviving him. There wasn't a lot left to do except double-check Sirius was 100 percent healed before letting him go, that meant keeping him in for observation for a few hours. The tingling, apparently, would stay for a while. Sirius was allowed visitors though, his first being Remus, obviously.

Although, by the telling-off he was getting from his friend, Sirius was beginning to wish the spell had been a bit more deadly.

"But you never listen to me, do you?" Remus continued to a very guilty-looking Sirius. "Well, maybe now you will."

"Ah, Remmy-poo, leave the poor boy alone, he's a hero, don't you know."

At hearing the voice Sirius' scowl turned into a bright grin. Remus, on the other hand, rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Hero or not _Jimmy-Pimmy_, he's still an idiot and so are you three," Remus turned to face the speaker, James, who was followed by Tae and Peter. "When are you ever going to learn?"

"Do you think he knows he's channelling Dumbledore right now?" Tae asked quietly but loud enough for Remus and Sirius to hear. Sirius began laughing loudly but Remus glared at the girl.

"How did he punish you all?" Remus asked, ignoring Tae's comment.

"Two weeks detention and fifty points each."

"You lost us two-hundred points?" Remus cried in irritation. "I don't believe this."

"Well be grateful you didn't come then," Tae shrugged, hopping over to Sirius' bed where she sat in one of the visitor's chairs.

"Besides," James cut in before Remus could open his mouth. " We got them all back and gained another hundred so quit your whinging."

"I'm not whinging…how did you gain the points back?"

"Heroism in action," James said simply. Remus would probably have asked more but James' attention was already elsewhere.

"So you're not dead then, Black?" Tae asked lightly unaware the rest of the room was watching her.

"You kidding?" Sirius responded in a bored tone. "I'd like to say it'd take a lot more than something like that to kill me off but knowing my luck I'll have some pathetic tragic death. Imagine it, all over the papers: _Handsome Man Killed by Pixies_."

Tae began laughing, "You're such a freak."

"Ah, you love me really Ruris."

"In your dreams Black." She got up and began to walk away.

"Hey, Ruris?"

Tae stopped and turned to face the attractive patient, still oblivious to the others in the room. "What do you want now?" She asked huffily, her face was light and teasing though.

"What happened to the Big Freeze?"

Tae smiled at him and continued out the Hospital Wing. Just before she left she called over her shoulder. "Our hero gets a truce for the day, I think you've earned it." And then she left, the door swinging behind her.

"What was that?" James asked, stunned at the sight.

Sirius grinned, "One day we might let you in on it if you're lucky."

* * *

**A.N: It's late, I know, I'm sorry butat least it'a out now :D I know there's been a serious lack of Lily and Alex lately (and Narcissa but she bores me so I don't care) but don't worry, I've got a big storyline coming up for them, it's just a case of fitting it in. Anyway, I best be off so I hope you enjoyed the chapter; review me and let me know.**

**Rae**


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